Despite pleas from some residents about their town losing its bucolic charm, the Highland Park City Council has voted to approve preliminary plans for a $40 million shopping and entertainment complex that could transform the city’s downtown.
The decision followed an announcement that the city began condemnation proceedings to acquire a parcel needed for the development.
The property’s owner, city officials said, had declined to negotiate a sale even after he was offered substantially more than the property’s appraised value.
The 5-2 vote to approve the plan for Renaissance Place came after a marathon debate that ran until nearly 3 a.m. on a recent Thursday, testing the endurance even of Highland Parkers accustomed to windy deliberation.
“I think we’re setting a record here tonight,” Highland Park Mayor Raymond Geraci quipped in the wee hours after the original crowd of 300 had dwindled to about 100 sturdy souls.
Controversy had dogged the plans for months. The original blueprint called for a 240,000-square-foot development that would be home to a new Saks Fifth Avenue store, a six-screen movie theater, two restaurants, office space, residential units and an underground parking garage.
The development was proposed for 4.5 acres bounded by Green Bay Road, Elm Place and Second Street in an area already zoned for high-density use.
After residents and members of the Highland Park Plan Commission expressed serious reservations, the developer, Heitman Retail Properties of Chicago, agreed to scale back its plans.
Heitman agreed to drop a fourth story, thereby reducing the number of apartment units by one-third. Heitman also agreed to build a fine arts theater complex with only five screens and reduce the number of restaurants to one from two.
Even after the reductions, Renaissance Place would be large enough to attract shoppers from around the North Shore and snare dollars now spent elsewhere, developers said.
But some residents argued that retaining the area’s quiet charm is more important than attracting new business.
“This is becoming an urban city,” said resident Vicky Hofstein at the meeting. “Is this what we want?”
A snag occurred when property owner Herbert Loeb refused to sell his property, a 15,000-square-foot parcel located in the path of the new venture.
The city, which has committed more than $9 million in infrastructure improvements to the development, asked the Illinois General Assembly to give it quick-take powers to acquire the property over Loeb’s objections.
Although the request was approved, the bill was scrapped when it was discovered that its language applied not only to Loeb’s property, but to 144 other properties along Skokie Road, far from the downtown area.
Heitman offered Loeb $1.4 million for his property, which had been appraised at $865,000, said Burton Ruder, chairman of the city’s Business and Economic Development Commission. Loeb refused to negotiate, Ruder said, leading to the decision to push ahead with condemnation proceedings.
“It’s disappointing when the whole project can be held up by one person, and by one person who refuses to negotiate in a businesslike manner,” Ruder said. “In the meantime, we’ll just build the building around him.”
City officials said they are eager to acquire the property and finish the development before the downtown area’s tax-increment financing district expires in 2004.
